tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10146326354077933392018-03-17T05:31:45.862-07:00I, Musical GeniusUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger567125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1014632635407793339.post-53813500558515268382018-03-15T13:14:00.002-07:002018-03-15T13:14:25.938-07:00This is What Happens When You Fuck a Stranger in the AssAll of my writing energy has been focused on a zine about ska that I've been working on. It's almost done, which is good! I've also neglected other outlets, like the friendly green confines here, which is bad, I guess, but also expected. The emotions and inspiration that I usually draw upon to make up the backbone of the posts that I'm proud of here are being re-directed towards the zine, so we've been left with spare parts around here lately. If I'm not writing about my thoughts and ~feelings~, I try to take another interest and draw that out, which is why it's been mostly "Baseball Hour" on IMU for the last two months.<br /><br />Well, that an Opening Day being only 15 days away at this writing!<br /><br />Anyways, I thought that I would try to give an update on my life to mix things up around here and get me out of my comfort zone.<br /><br />I should preface what's coming next with this statement:<br /><br />I am very lucky. I've found someone who is my perfect match and makes me so happy and a better person. We live together and still get along really well. We have a huge, nice dog and small, nice cat (who doesn't have Kidney Disease!). I'm mostly healthy, have an okay job, and can play most blink-182 songs on guitar. I say all of this so that what I follow it with doesn't sound as whine-y and entitled as I worry it does in my head.<br /><br />The main thing that I have been preoccupied with since September has been preparing and submitting applications to start a PhD in Art History this coming fall. First, I applied to SSHRC, which takes a long time. Then I had meetings. Then an online application. Then letters of reference. Then transcripts. Then letters of intent. Then writing samples. I submitted both applications a week early so that I would like I was very "on top of things". We had a dinner with both Rebecca and I's parents to celebrate me getting the applications off. Then the waiting started.<br /><br />I felt good about&nbsp; my chances. I'm coming off a Fellowship at a well-respected art gallery, have good references from former professors, and think my thesis is still okay, which I understand is a rarity among grad students.<br /><br />Then I heard back from Queen's University that they had turned me down. I wanted to type "rejected" there, but thought that was a little dramatic. I was blindsided by this and felt really bad about it. Rebecca and I had been day-dreaming about how much fun moving to Kingston would be. We could afford to rent a house! A Backyard! Onsite laundry! No more drunk 20-year-olds on Fridays!<br /><br />This rejection was the first professional obstacle I had run into in a while. I had applied for an MA and gotten it. I was a good T.A. I kept teaching through university. I finished my thesis. I applied for a job and got that. I applied for a <i>better</i>&nbsp;job and got that. As soon as I started that job, my next step became "starting a PhD right after". Since then, I have been building my life around the idea that starting a PhD in 2018 would be my next step towards my eventual job as a university professor. This threw that all for a loop. My life was no longer a direct line ending with me being secure professionally doing what I love and playing a <a href="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/XnsFx9oz0NA/hqdefault.jpg" target="_blank">tiger-print Ibanez</a> guitar while Rebecca gazes on adoringly.<br /><br />I still haven't heard back from the other school I applied to, so nothing is set in stone, but I've to open up my worldview a little bit. I'm in between two eventual outcomes, either starting school or having to find a new job, but not committing to either one. I've had to resign to the fact that some things are out of my control and allow parts of my life to be dictated by forces other than me.<br /><br />My initial confidence in my chances at the two schools has now faltered and I have no idea what to think. Is it good that I still haven't heard? Does it mean they're waiting to tell me? Does it mean I'm on a waiting list? It's hard to know and it's become a constant, dull stress in my life.Timmy Chandlerhttps://plus.google.com/116964362145332092702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1014632635407793339.post-42886168496294241752018-03-15T08:15:00.000-07:002018-03-15T08:15:28.255-07:00I Could Meet You Where the Shield and the Mountains CollideI am a man of simple pleasures and I know what I like.<br /><br />I like breakdowns.<br /><br /><br /><iframe seamless="" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=3687221520/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/transparent=true/" style="border: 0; height: 470px; width: 350px;"><a href="http://intothefray.bandcamp.com/album/from-within">From Within by into the fray</a></iframe><br /><br /><br />I like palm-muting.<br /><br /><br /><iframe seamless="" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=3142976739/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/transparent=true/" style="border: 0; height: 470px; width: 350px;"><a href="http://foundobjects666.bandcamp.com/album/the-worst-is-yet-to-come">The Worst is Yet to Come by Found Objects</a></iframe><br /><br />There are certainly worse ways to start your day off than finding two great releases by local bands. It's important for me to remember to stay active in looking for bands and shows that I'll enjoy in Toronto. That shit ain't gonna fall into your lap.Timmy Chandlerhttps://plus.google.com/116964362145332092702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1014632635407793339.post-53602207784138667082018-02-22T20:13:00.001-08:002018-02-22T20:13:40.425-08:00If I Had It in Me, To Stop My Random Thoughts and My Dumb DreamsLast night, I went to go see Less Than Jake play for what (I think) was the 15th time. Among those 15 shows are many that I count as some of my favourite times ever. Seeing the band play <i>Losing Streak</i>&nbsp;in its entirety while I was in 11th grade was a formative experience for me as a music fan and there were also many times where feelings of confusion and self-doubt that were circling in my mind were momentarily clarified by the peace I would feel watching the band play.<br /><br />I've always viewed seeing the band as a ritualistic thing; a thread that I can follow through various stages of my life and something that has always managed to contextualize thoughts and worries I have at that particular moment. It's equally enjoyable to see the band on my own, when I get to make the experience all about myself, or with share it with someone else, when I get to share some special to me with someone else.<br /><br />Knowing that they are my favourite band, my sister bought me tickets for the show as a Christmas present, which was a nice gesture since my super fandom of the band has turned into a big fan herself. We went to go see Less Than Jake together in 2014 and it was a great night that brought us much closer together as siblings. This time I was bringing my partner Rebecca with me, who had never seen the band before, but knew about my embarrassing fervour for them. It was exciting to be able to bring along somebody that I love and introduce them to something else that I love.<br /><br />In the days leading up to the show, my excitement started to really ramp up. It had been about 4 years since the last time I had seen the band, which was the longest I had gone in between LTJ sets. When I was younger, I used to lament gaps in sets this long, but this time I hadn't even noticed it until I looked up how long it had been. As you get older, some of your priorities change and things like PhD applications start to take precedence over seeing a ska-punk band play at Wakestock.<br /><br />The show was a true throwback to an earlier version of Timmy as Four Year Strong, who I was briefly infatuated with in my younger days, were direct support for LTJ. I hadn't listened to the band, or really that type of music, in a long time and Becks remarked that being at the show was like looking at a younger version of themselves, which I echoed. I hadn't been to a big concert like that in a long time, so the set-up of a big stage in a big room featuring a big band going through the set they've prepared for a major tour was very unfamiliar to me.<br /><br />I was downright giddy as we waited for Less Than Jake to take the stage. I said "I'm so excited." numerous times and inundated Rebecca with anecdotes about previous shows and useless information about the band. I can be a real shitty "<a href="http://thehardtimes.net/news/man-magically-becomes-music-historian-talking-women/" target="_blank">male music fan</a>" sometimes, but when it comes to Less Than Jake, I just can't help it. I love them so much and as soon as they come up in any conversation, I lose any faculty in moderating what comes out of my mouth.<br /><br />They're my favourite, you know?<br /><br />The set started with the band playing Mark Metcalf's monologue from <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9AbeALNVkk" target="_blank">Twisted Sister's "We're Not Gonna Take It"</a> music video over the P.A. before Roger yelled "I wanna rock!" and they opened with my favourite track of theirs <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWUpjHsLU3o" target="_blank">"Sugar in Your Gas Tank".</a><br /><br />Cool!<br /><br />The next song that the band played was "The Ghosts of You and Me", which is maybe my <i>second</i>&nbsp;favourite song of theirs. You kidding me?!<br /><br />However, my excitement subsided a bit when they got to the verse of the song and the band was noticeably off-time with each other. Chris was having a lot of trouble keeping up with the pace of the song and was fumbling some of the riffs that weren't super difficult to begin. I chalked it up to it being early in the set and him not being warmed up yet, hoping that the rest of the set would go better.<br /><br />It didn't really though. It became obvious as it wore on that only two of the members of the band were still capable enough to pull it off live. A lot of songs were slowed down and most had parts where the members were significantly out of sync with each other. It bummed me out a lot to watch it live. There were still glimpses of their former glory (a super tight "How's My Driving, Doug Hastings?" and pulling out the superb deep-cut "1989"), but for the most part it seemed like the band had aged 10 years in the 4 it had been since I saw them.<br /><br />Their live shows have always been filled with shenanigans, like when they had a huge spinning wheel to determine the song they would play next, but it seemed like they were pausing a lot during this set in between songs to the detriment of the experience. At one point they pulled four audience members onstage to have a dance-off for the entirety of the next song that they were going to play, which turned out to be "Look What Happened". Guys, if you're going to play what is, without a doubt, one of the best punk songs <i>ever</i>, you don't need a gimmick onstage to distract from it. Let the song speak for itself, because it's really, really good.<br /><br />Sidenote: I downloaded this live video on Kazaa while I was in high school. It's one of my favourite videos ever and still makes me so happy watching it right now.<br /><br /><br /><iframe allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/GefB9yMzTdg" width="560"></iframe> <br /><br />One of my favourite things about seeing Less Than Jake is that there's always a significant amount of older fans who have clearly been coming to the shows for a while in the crowd. Yesterday's show wasn't an exception and the older contingent was out in full force, with me being a member now. Part way through the set, Chris introduced a song as being "an old one" and then the band started "Overrated", to my confusion. Then I realized that that song is 12 years old.<br /><br />But what was most confusing was that all of the young crowd embraced the song wholeheartedly. It's not that I hate the song, as I got over my "LTJ fan <i>In With the Out Crowd</i>" disdain a long time ago, but it's that I remember when playing that song was met with groans by the audience and the band did it with shit-eating grins the whole time. There was definitely a time when playing the poppy songs off of <i>In With the Out Crowd</i>&nbsp;was a whole "thing" for fans of the band, but now it seems like that record has been subsumed into the rest of their back catalogue. Sometimes you don't notice how much things have changed until you get a clear and glaring sign, and this was one of those.<br /><br />When the band had trouble working through a couple more older songs, I suddenly realized that this would probably be my last time going to see the band. There's no point in continuing the ritual when the experience isn't really fun anymore. That saddened me at first, but once I sat in that initial sadness for a bit, I decided that rather than sulk I would embrace the show as the way I would see them go out. I still sang along to every song and the words still meant a lot to me.<br /><br />The set reminded me of two things more so than anything else.<br /><br />First: A couple of years ago, I saw Propagandhi touring on the album <i>Failed&nbsp;States</i>. They played a decent set that, obviously, leaned on their new album, as most bands touring a new album do, but during the set I realized that I more than likely wouldn't be going to see Propagandhi live anymore. This sounds very judgmental and grandiose, but it's supposed to be more of a personal statement. It was a private moment where I thought that to myself. I was a little sad that the band was the same as when I fell in love with them and I wouldn't get to see that anymore, but I also thought "...and that's okay." All the power to them to keep touring and putting out records, but I believe that I passed the point where I would get really exciting to go to that show. The same thing happened yesterday with Less Than Jake.<br /><br />Second: Before Less Than Jake played, Becks and I were talking about Reel Big Fish, because they are one of the few third wave ska acts who are still actively touring. Whereas Less Than Jake has had the same lineup since 1999, and the came core members since its inception, we were discussing how RBF has turned into frontman Aaron Barrett playing with a different case of touring musicians each year. I thought it was sad to see someone trying to force the band to keep going when it's not nearly the same experience as it was with the members who participated in writing the songs initially and lauded LTJ for staying together.<br /><br />Now in hindsight, I'm not so sure. Less Than Jake illustrated that though it's very cool that the members have stuck with it, not everyone ages well as a musician. People get old and stop playing as much. The band that was their entire life for all of their adulthood is now something they tour in for part of the year. I'm sure that RBF, with its cast of pitch perfect studio players, is much tighter live than the version of Less Than Jake that I saw yesterday, but then again, who wants to go see an old Aaron Barrett play with a bunch of young guys who learned the song before the tour? Also not ideal.<br /><br />I'm not sure that I can come up with a concrete answer to that riddle. Realistically, I would that bands would hang it up once they realize they can't do it the same as they used to (I extremely pro "blaze of glory"), but that's easier said than done.<br /><br />Having said all of this, yesterday's show does not change LTJ's place in my heart at all. One subpar show doesn't erase 14 amazing ones or two decades of great music. Watching that "Look What Happened" video above, or this one of them playing <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYYyQyT4HVo" target="_blank">three songs at Reading Festival</a> (I have watched this more than any other video on the internet) still stirs up strong feelings of love and belonging. I even felt a little guilty writing this post, because so much of it was me explaining how bad the set was. Nothing can take away what the band has meant to me and so many others, I still think that they deserve to be applauded more than they have been for all that they've done.<br /><br />Long live Less Than Jake. Less Than Jake forever. Thank you for being the best band in the world for so long.Timmy Chandlerhttps://plus.google.com/116964362145332092702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1014632635407793339.post-67980985991651430402018-02-15T13:46:00.001-08:002018-02-15T13:46:23.105-08:00Something Special Will Recede as Something Boring SwellsThe upcoming season of Toronto Blue Jays baseball feels like one of transition, more so than any one in recent memory. While the team's corporate office tries to constantly remind the fanbase of the landmark years that team is passing, by placing a 40th anniversary patch on an arm or by playing highlights celebrating the 25th birthday of Joe Carter's home run, this period of flux instead came through the natural ebb and flow that all professional sports teams experience. There's several events that had led me to believe that the 2018 Blue Jays season will be very unlike those that preceded it. Here's why, I guess.<br /><br />The seeds of this shift start last June when Jose Bautista's hot month of batting in May faded into a mediocre June that lasted until September. The strong and mighty Jose, who t<a href="https://thumbs.gfycat.com/CornyFriendlyLamb-max-1mb.gif" target="_blank">hrew a shitty team designed to secure good prospects over his shoulder</a> and marched towards contention, was now older and not nearly the same player. I was still happy to applaud his accomplishments and he deserves his <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkSFh6HMUtQ" target="_blank">fanfare</a> until the day he dies, but I will admit that it was much more fun to watch him hit timely, towering revenge home runs than set the team's single-season strikeout record.<br /><br />Now, the Jays have reported to Dunedin in February without Jose Bautista for the first time since 2009. We've been fortunate to welcome many great players to the team over the last 4 years or so, but none of them usurped Jose as the "face" of the team. To American fans who don't consume all of their sports media through Sportsnet, Jose was the only player they heard about from Toronto. From my perspective as a fan, there certainly seemed to be a "Jose Bautista Era" for the Jays from 2010-2017. That's done now, so a new identity for the team will have to emerge, no matter what it looks like.<br /><br />Also of note is that the team's all-time greatest player died in a plane crash this past November. Rather than try to write something else about Roy Halladay, I will instead link to <a href="http://imusicalgenius.blogspot.ca/2017/11/for-roy.html" target="_blank">something I've already written</a>.<br /><br />The team recently announced that they will retire his number, 32, on Opening Day and the team will wear a memorial black "32" patch on the sleeve of their uniforms for all of the 2018 season. If Doc is to become just the second player to have his number retired, then it follows that his name will also be added to the "Level of Excellence" which is enshrined on the <a href="http://baseballparkpassport.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Blue-Jays-Level-Of-Excellence-Carlos-Delgado.jpg" target="_blank">facing of the 4th deck at the Dome</a>. A new version of the team, with few returning faces from the 2015 AL East Champions, will seem all the more different with a dark spectre of the team's past looking down on the field from above.<br /><br />If these circumstances were not enough, yet another thread in the history of the Blue Jays was cut this week as the team's long-time radio play-by-play announcer Jerry Howarth announced that he would be retiring from his duties. As with Halladay, it feels silly to try and write a post describing what Jerry has meant to me as a fan when <a href="http://imusicalgenius.blogspot.ca/2017/05/so-its-come-to-this-baseball-post.html" target="_blank">I've already touched on that in the past</a>.<br /><br />Jerry is closer to the identity of Blue Jays baseball than anyone else on the team. He has been calling games longer than I've been alive, so me hearing a season of the team without him telling me that "Blue Jays are in flight" after they've scored their first run of the game or him proclaiming "There she goes!" after a player turns on a fastball is daunting. Hearing his soft voice through the speakers in my dad's car is perhaps the most comforting sound I know, so I am sad that he has decided to retire.<br /><br />With advances in analytics and an influx of new fans in recent years, Jerry got a bit of a raw deal with fans who thought he was too much of an old man and weren't cognisant of how much his history means to the team. While some others started to turn on him because of his enthusiasm for back-up shortstops, I thought that this was a step too far. I liked that even though I was part of a new generation of WAR-obsessed baseball fans, I had something which tied me to baseball fans past.<br /><br />But regardless of what these three giants of Toronto baseball meant to me, the machine that is the team powers ahead without them. A new, different identity for the Blue Jays is already beginning to form, even though it may take me a couple of months to recognize it.Timmy Chandlerhttps://plus.google.com/116964362145332092702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1014632635407793339.post-45287766915192306672018-02-09T12:56:00.001-08:002018-02-09T13:01:51.699-08:00I'll Put It in a Place We Can Both ForgetA collection of random thoughts for you on a Friday afternoon.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://smhttp.59631.nexcesscdn.net/8043173/resources/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/donnie-darko.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://smhttp.59631.nexcesscdn.net/8043173/resources/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/donnie-darko.jpg" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="800" height="180" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>I cannot tell you why, but today I started thinking a lot about the movie <i>Donnie Darko</i>. Rebecca and I were discussing it recently and we both agreed that it falls into the category of "Movies That People in Your First Year Dorm Like to Prove That They Are 'Deep'". I still stand by that, I guess. I was introduced to the movie by my brother, who fell in love with it while he was in university and it was released, so much so that his email at the time was "mikeydarko". I was only about 12 or 13 at the time and hadn't been exposed to "thriller" or "philosophical", or even "indie", movies yet, so&nbsp;<i>&nbsp;Donnie Darko</i>&nbsp;seemed like this crazy distinctive thing to me. Upon revisiting it years later, I was a little bummed to find that the movie didn't quite live up the version that I had kept in my mind all those years. But still, while it's not a perfect movie by any means, it will still always live in a nice, little nostalgic corner of my mind for what it meant to me at one time. Plus, the imagery of Donnie with Frank the Rabbit is great and the soundtrack bangs.<br /><br />Everyone knows the Jules and Andrews version of "Mad World" from the movie. Have you heard the Makeshift Heroes version? <a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/4A5nED8IlVziTcSpm10NA8" target="_blank">It's wonderful</a>.<br /><br />I am a huge fan of Pete Holmes' podcast <i><a href="https://nerdist.com/podcasts/you-made-it-weird-channel/" target="_blank">You Made It Weird</a></i>. Pete's empathetic and a gifted conversationalist who's adept at being as silly as possible and asking the most personal and deep questions possible at the same time. It's an interesting mix, but I like it. Holmes has an autobiographical show <i>Crashing</i>&nbsp;on HBO that is currently airing its second season. I'm a fan of the show and heartily recommend it, if only for the subtle Christian jokes.<br /><br />I haven't run into a 2018 record that's turned my world upside down yet. I did listen to Teenage Fanclub <i>Bandwagonesque</i>&nbsp;for the first time today though, and that was just wonderful.<br /><br />I'm inching towards starting demos for songs I've been working on. They make a lot of sense in my head, but I haven't translated that into any sort of physical form yet. To tide my legions of devoted fans, I've made a playlist on Spotify that is inspiring my approach to them. I love Spotify now, apparently. Check it.<br /><br /><i>Another key influence: Gated reverb and the drumfill on "Calling in the Air Tonight"</i>.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="380" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/user/pizzeriacombos/playlist/2AJGcSDrNJC96yY2CdDW4T" width="300"></iframe><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><i>Editor's note: While titling post, I started listening to the above playlist and ended up writing and re-writing three different lines from "Deeper". What a song!</i></div></div>Timmy Chandlerhttps://plus.google.com/116964362145332092702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1014632635407793339.post-35074901310476727952018-02-01T16:26:00.001-08:002018-02-01T16:26:29.059-08:00Asked for Nothing and I Got It in SpadesI've felt unmotivated in my personal pursuits lately and have found any writing to be a huge chore to get through. I feel like it's in part due to me having finished my zine and printed it; my subconscious response to that is been to relax and not do anything because I've accomplished something. It's one of my worst tendencies. I was also so caught up in grant and PhD applications that they were the only thing I thought about when I was outside of work (or at work, for that matter). Since I'm done those now, I feel weird and unfocused. Instead of having a big, tangible goal to work towards, I have vaguer ones like "work on this story" or "work on songs". They're less urgent, so I feel less inclined to work on them and then my interest and skill in writing starts to nosedive.<br /><br />Even though I got a few things out this month, I'm still feeling guilty about not devoting more time to writing in my spare time. That's good, because that nervousness is often the first step towards getting goals done. Today I was hoping to knock out a self-reflective post in which I could dig into some feelings I've been having, but nothing was coming to me, so instead I'm digging up a draft I have saved to see where an old idea gets me.<br /><br />One such draft was me reminding myself to reflect on my love of the baseball player Vladimir Guerrero on the occasion that he was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. This happened last week, so I suppose I should indulge myself.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Fuckin' Vladdy</b></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://manginphotography.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/Man_1243-421x575.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://manginphotography.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/Man_1243-421x575.jpg" data-original-height="575" data-original-width="421" height="400" width="292" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>As a child, I felt significantly more pride about being Canadian than I do now. This Canadian Pride was enough for me to place an emotional interest in the Montréal Expos, simply because they were one of two Canadian teams in Major League Baseball, and the only team in the National League. Sadly though, my ascent as a ballfan coincided with the demise of Montréal's franchise. While it's debatable if the Expos ever truly experienced "good times", the last breathe of the team was especially sad.<br /><br />In hindsight, the minor differences between being a baseball fan and a hockey fan in Toronto were funny. To Leafs fans, the Montréal Canadiens were and still are anathema, due to the long rivalry between the two teams. Blue Jays fans, at least more of them, instead felt a kinship with Montréal's oft-ignored baseball team. They were perpetual underdogs constantly fighting against the league and their own ownership. Of all the teams in the league, they were dealt the worst hand. You have to appreciate resilience and the later-year Montréal Expos displayed a tremendous amount of resilience in small batches.<br /><br />Former Expos and then Marlins owner Jeff Loria is well-known among baseball fans for being a piece of shit. The Expos produced a seemingly endless parade of exciting players (Gary Carter, Andre Dawson, Randy Johnson, Tim Raines, Pedro Martinez, and now Vlad in the Hall of Fame, Larry Walker maybe on his way) and the only thing that kept up with that was the rate at which they sold them to other teams. The one year it looked like Montréal would finally put it all together and maybe win a World Series was also the last time baseball experienced a work stoppage, 1994.<br /><br />Of all the Expos, the most exciting was by far their right fielder Vladimir Guerrero. He is a Dominican player who at the time was tall and thin, but still muscular, while having impossibly long legs. People like to apply labels like "unconventional" to athletes all the time, but Vlad really was unlike anyone else. He was a giant presence in the batter's box and never wore batting gloves. He hit a shitload of home runs and was one of the most fearsome power hitters of the era, but also swung at everything he saw. People love t<a href="http://mlb.mlb.com/images/4/6/6/263796466/121917_laa_vlad_gif.gif" target="_blank">he image of him hitting a single after the pitch bounced</a>, but I think more impressive is him being able to <a href="https://giant.gfycat.com/PleasantUglyCat.webm" target="_blank">hit a pitch a foot off the plate in two directions out of the park</a>. Early in his career he was speedy and stole 40 bases in a season, while also having a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdzM02BgL-k" target="_blank">fucking hose</a>.<br /><span id="goog_733771643"></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a><span id="goog_733771644"></span><br />It was hard to not like him and as a young boy he quickly became one of my favourite players in the league, Jays included. Every amazing play felt like a slap to Bud Selig's face. The bullshit announce team on the below video exemplifies that.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hF89aQhAOKI" width="560"></iframe></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Forever etched into my mind, but for some reason impossible to find on the internet, is call of a Vladdy home run by the home town Montréal announcers in which one yells "VLADIMIIIIIR! VLADIMIIIIIR!" in a Québécois accent while he circled the bases in his typical gangly style. I thought it was one of the coolest things I had ever seen.&nbsp;</div><br />Towards the end, things for the Expos got especially bad, with the cherry being them playing "home games" in Puerto Rico as an experiment. There were always whispers about how much longer the team would last and Montréal tried its best to support and save the team behind decent 2002 and 2003 teams. Most exciting to me was when they traded for a svelte, in-his-prime Bartolo Colon and made brief noise in the Wild Card race. I think that I wanted&nbsp;Montréal to get a revenge World Series more than a Blue Jays one.<br /><br />When Major League Baseball announced that Montréal would be moving to Washington DC after the 2004 season, my family made a trip to the city that summer to catch a game at Olympic Stadium before that would be impossible. We spent a couple of days in the city and went to the game on the middle night of our stay. I <i>believe</i>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/MON/MON200408270.shtml" target="_blank">this is the boxscore from that game</a>. Somehow, we had chosen the one game that Vlad had an off-day. I was crushed that I wouldn't get to see him play. I eventually saw him many times as a member of the Los Angeles Angels, Texas Rangers, and Baltimore Orioles (sadly never as a Blue Jay, though I BADLY wanted them to call him up from the minors), but it never scratched the Expo itch that I had while younger. The game was exciting, our seats were close, and the small, but devoted, Montréal crowd was loud and engaged. By the end of the game, the city had won me over, and the memory of fans around me yelling at the field in heavy, throaty French will forever be my memory of what Expos baseball was. I'm fortunate to have that.<br /><br />Something I like to do is look back on the things I liked a child and draw connections between them and myself now. As a preteen boy I only understood Vlad and the last stand of the Expos as "cool", but now as an adult I like to think that my fascination in them was part of a larger pattern of fighting against power and hating authority. The reason that everyone loves an underdog is because the overdog fucking sucks. Now the Expos are the Nationals now and that team is in the midst of a run of success, but I don't think any ballfans in Montréal take solace in that. I also don't think it will be the same as it was if a baseball team ever does come back to Montréal.<br /><br />This all being said, the Expos are forever. I'll always hold a place in my heart for the team stuck around as long as they could against seemingly impossible odds and how inspiring I found that. A hearty congratulations to one of my very favourite players ever, Vladimir Guerrero, for making the Hall of Fame. I don't care what cap is on your plaque Vlad, you're an Expo for life.Timmy Chandlerhttps://plus.google.com/116964362145332092702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1014632635407793339.post-41143228808870683582018-01-31T17:42:00.003-08:002018-01-31T17:47:22.905-08:00The 10 Baseball Players I HateAt some point last year, one of the baseball sites that I frequent, The Hardball Times, published a story called "<a href="https://www.fangraphs.com/tht/the-ten-players-who-vex-me-the-most/" target="_blank">The 10 Players I Hate</a>" in which the author listed the players who had tormented his favourite team during his time as a fan. I thought that is was a great idea for an article and provided a funny look at the things that you obsess over as a fan and the minutiae and petty differences that can consume you when you devote a significant amount of your time to something as silly as sports.<br /><br />I'm deep in the "Lost &amp; Directionless" part of baseball's off-season, where the action of the previous year seems so far away that I can barely remember it and pitchers and catchers reporting, let Spring Training games, are still on another calendar page, so I need something to hold me over and remind me of the weird passion that takes over my brain from April to October.<br /><br />With that being said, here are the 10 Baseball Players I Hate:<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Derek Jeter</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fc/JeterError.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="800" height="300" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fc/JeterError.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">If you lived in Toronto, Boston, Baltimore, or St. Petersburg between 1995 and 2015 you could set your watch to Derek Jeter dashing your hopes and dreams as a baseball fan. The only thing worse than the unending parade of sportswriters who were eager to feed Jeter peeled grapes was the fact that he kind of deserved it. Growing up, I despised him and thought it was obvious how much of a dick he was, but it wasn't until I got older that I realized that perspective came from me being sour about Jeter leading the Yankees to elite levels of success and a decent chunk of it coming at the expense of my Blue Jays. I'm now mature enough to admit that Derek Jeter is one baseball's all-time shortstops, but I don't think I'll ever get to a place where I don't hate the fuckin' New York Yankees.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Dustin Pedroia</b><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/bc/97/64/bc9764f8acd3696bc8456e6a3b892d13.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="594" data-original-width="449" height="320" src="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/bc/97/64/bc9764f8acd3696bc8456e6a3b892d13.jpg" width="241" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Much like Jeter, much of my hate for Dustin Pedroia derives from the fact that he played an integral part in the Boston Red Sox dominating the Blue Jays. He still plays a part in that. To truly hate a player, they must be good, and Pedroia has been steadily good for a long time. He was the face of the "hustle" Red Sox teams of the 00's, where a new white guy with a beard seemed to turn up every week. He runs to 1st base after walks and was probably his coach's favourite player on every team he's been on. He has a stupid face and I love when he fails at the sport of baseball. Red Sox fans love believing that their team is still a lovable underdog and Pedroia's dumb-ass playing style is a big part of that. Fuck the Red Sox.</div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Mark Texeira</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://ww1.hdnux.com/photos/31/72/77/6795236/3/920x920.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="547" data-original-width="800" height="218" src="https://ww1.hdnux.com/photos/31/72/77/6795236/3/920x920.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Though I have following the Jays for my whole life and going to games for just as long, my high school year were particularly formative in my experience as a baseball because that is when I started to carve out my own place as a Jays fan and establish an identity separate from my parents in following the team. For that reason, the Jays teams of 2003-2010 are especially dear to me because they coincided with that time. They were the teams that Timmy fell in love with, not that the Chandlers fell in love with. Those teams also fucking sucked. You know who are great at beating down shitty Jays teams? The New Yankees. A potent force for them during that time was switch-hitting first baseman and noted jabroni Mark Texeira. New York is apparently allergic to players who don't hit 30 dingers and OBP in the upper 300's. During the 00's, Tex was the latest in a never-ending parade of expensive free agents that led to division titles and for that reason I will always despise him.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Note: On May 12th, 2009, I watched Roy Halladay shutout the Yankees by himself. Texeira went 0-4 with two strikeouts and I laughed and laughed and laughed.</div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Eric Hosmer</b><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://i.pinimg.com/736x/d8/64/b0/d864b0537d9de80cccea5eca0b7acec2--eric-hosmer-gold-gloves.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="459" data-original-width="736" height="199" src="https://i.pinimg.com/736x/d8/64/b0/d864b0537d9de80cccea5eca0b7acec2--eric-hosmer-gold-gloves.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Unsurprisingly, most of the players on this, the pettiest of all lists, come from the Blue Jays' rivals.&nbsp; The Jays played a heated regular season and then playoff series against the shittiest and dumbest of all loser-ass teams, the Kansas City Royals. In their prime, the Royals were led by first baseman Eric Hosmer who sucks for the following reasons:&nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">-bad at hitting home runs&nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">-thinks he's better than he is&nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">-dumb beard, haircut, and douchey face</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">-leads dumb team that got the luckiest of any team ever at the right time</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">He talked a lot of shit and came up with clutch, piddly singles with maddening frequency. Thanks for ruining our playoff run you piece of trash.</div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Kevin Youkilis</b><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/5df7fbcc3d93381c8456662f2d17be52e28d9fee/c=0-0-2772-2082&amp;r=x404&amp;c=534x401/local/-/media/USATODAY/USATODAY/2013/12/03//1386125033000-youk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="401" data-original-width="534" height="240" src="https://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/5df7fbcc3d93381c8456662f2d17be52e28d9fee/c=0-0-2772-2082&amp;r=x404&amp;c=534x401/local/-/media/USATODAY/USATODAY/2013/12/03//1386125033000-youk.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">Take a deep breathe and reflect for a moment. You're right. It's true. A Major League Baseball player actually used that stupid fucking batting stance you see above. I hate Kevin Youkilis for many of the same reasons that I hate Dustin Pedroia. They played on the same teams that won a lot (including a World Series in 2007) and were the nexus of the Boston "gritty, white baseball players with beards" criclejerk that was the bane of my existence. What a bunch of grinders! Putting in professional at-bats! More like casual racism coated in pinetar. Bud, your name is fuckin' stupid.</div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Rougned Odor</b><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www2.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/Texas+Rangers+v+Chicago+Cubs+s1pGlX0FZPWx.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="604" data-original-width="800" height="241" src="https://www2.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/Texas+Rangers+v+Chicago+Cubs+s1pGlX0FZPWx.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;">As a sports fan, I try to act like I am above the typical lowbrow, macho brandishing that the rest of the world associates with professional athletics. I read the things that the <i>New Yorker</i> publishes about baseball. I applaud when teams do things to make their environment more inclusive. I distance myself from the intoxication culture imbued in the crowd. I focus on the small subtle things in the game instead of falling prey to gossip-y narratives given to the public by media corporations. That being said, it's also important to recognize that I am part of that world and sometimes you need to lean into it. Roughned Odor is a rat-faced fuck who was a catalyst in the Texas Rangers taking the ALDS to 5 games and got in a fight with my savior, José Bautista and for that I will curse his name until the day I die.</div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Darren O'Day</b><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://i0.wp.com/bluejayhunter.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/baltimore-orioles-v-toronto-blue-20130622-195757-240.jpg?resize=512%2C359" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="359" data-original-width="512" height="224" src="https://i0.wp.com/bluejayhunter.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/baltimore-orioles-v-toronto-blue-20130622-195757-240.jpg?resize=512%2C359" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;">The hateful part of my brain has an expressway attached to it which can only be accessed by players who have wronged José Bautista, Josh Donaldson, or Marcus Stroman. It doesn't matter what they have done, I must stand by my boys and support them. Darren O'Day and Jose Bautista have a, admittedly, petty rivalry that started over the former skipping towards the dugout after a strikeout. Since then, José has owned O'Day and the rest of the Orioles, giving me a huge supply of revenge home runs to watch while I laugh and clap my hands. The best rivalries are the ones where your side relentlessly beats down the other side and never loses.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Chipper Jones</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B7M9HwnIgAACwBn.jpg:large" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B7M9HwnIgAACwBn.jpg:large" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;">The differences between being an American sports fan and a Canadian sports fan are small. The typical American sports outlets, like ESPN and FoxSports, weren't broadcasted in Canada while I was growing up, but we did get TBS, which has traditionally been the home of Atlanta Braves baseball. As a result, the Braves were more or less the only team other than the Blue Jays who I saw on TV. I hated their announcers, I hated their hats, and I hated how good they were in the 90's. At the centre of the team was their Hall of Fame third baseman Chipper Jones who I hated for being good, for being constantly brought up by the TBS team, and for having a good nickname.</div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Roger Clemens</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://img.huffingtonpost.com/asset/5628e63c12000026007e5b89.jpeg?ops=scalefit_720_noupscale" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="472" data-original-width="720" height="209" src="https://img.huffingtonpost.com/asset/5628e63c12000026007e5b89.jpeg?ops=scalefit_720_noupscale" width="320" /></a></div><br /></div>I only vaguely remember the time when Roger Clemens pitched for the Blue Jays. He was very good! Then he requested a trade and left to play for our bitterest enemies, the New York Yankees. Not only that, but he won two World Series titles right after leaving. He was the perfect storm of being a jerk, being an amazing player, being associated with steroids when I was vehemently against them, and playing for the Yankees. It was impossible not to hate him and I revelled in his defeats.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Jose Cruz Jr.</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://media.gettyimages.com/photos/jun-2001-centerfielder-jose-cruz-jr-23-of-the-toronto-blue-jays-leaps-picture-id581886" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://media.gettyimages.com/photos/jun-2001-centerfielder-jose-cruz-jr-23-of-the-toronto-blue-jays-leaps-picture-id581886" data-original-height="525" data-original-width="800" height="210" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">For the sake of fairness, I thought that I should also include a Blue Jays player who I hate and the first one I thought of was Jose Cruz (Jr.). Cruz was part of the Jays teams that were thoroughly dominated by the Yankees and Red Sox in the late 90's/early 00's and was, in hindsight, a pretty key contributor. For the life of me, I can't explain why I disliked him so much. His numbers were pretty decent and he was a good player on bad teams. Then he got bad as soon as he left Toronto. That wasn't enough for me though, and I hated him purely for his whole time in the city. One game I went to, they gave out free player t-shirts to all kids under 13 in the ballpark. Once I saw they were Cruz t-shirts, I was dismayed and never wore it once.</div>Timmy Chandlerhttps://plus.google.com/116964362145332092702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1014632635407793339.post-65837370720376005762018-01-25T13:59:00.001-08:002018-01-25T20:06:25.601-08:00We Can Just Lay HereWe're going to partake in a little bit of a Throwback Thursday here and revisit a post style that I haven't used in a while: A link dump with short paragraphs around them to make the post look longer and more thought out than it actually is.<br /><br />First off, sincere congratulations to the band <a href="https://osoosoband.bandcamp.com/" target="_blank">Oso Oso</a> for signing to Triple Crown Records. <i><a href="https://osoosoband.bandcamp.com/album/the-yunahon-mixtape" target="_blank">The Yunahon Mixtape</a> </i>is one of my favourite records ever and makes me feel a lot of things. They're opening a tour in Toronto next week, but I slept on getting tickets and will be missing them for the first time in a couple of years. What a great band! Happy that they are moving on up! Triple Crown Records put out <a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLC15D022633C7F592" target="_blank"><i>All I Have to Offer is My Own Confusion</i>&nbsp;by Fireworks</a>, so for that alone they are in my good books.<br /><br />To go with this news, the band also just released a video for the second track off of <i>Yunahon</i>, "Reindeer Games". It's a great song and I think the video does a good job of capturing the album's vibe. There's a lot of nice tummies in this video.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/orxsNUX5OX8" width="560"></iframe></div><br />Also, my friends Nick, James, Scott, and Ben play in a band called Dog Cops. They've been playing shows around the GTA and working on songs for the last year or two and they just put out a single. Great stuff and free to download!<br /><br /><iframe seamless="" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=2123925728/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/transparent=true/" style="border: 0; height: 120px; width: 100%;"><a href="http://dogcops.bandcamp.com/album/riff-van-winkle-san-jose">Riff Van Winkle / San Jose by Dog Cops</a></iframe><br /><br />I'm working on the text for a second zine right now, hoping that I can have it finished by the end of February. It's about ska. Have any ideas for the cover art? I would love them.<br /><br />Lastly, I deeply love independent pro wrestling. Though I started out watching the WWF like most people, I'm happy that my interest in it led me to this much better, more interesting, and weird in the best way subculture. It's strange, but perfect.Timmy Chandlerhttps://plus.google.com/116964362145332092702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1014632635407793339.post-43363111302630487942018-01-06T14:17:00.002-08:002018-01-06T14:17:55.782-08:00No One Likes a DropoutSomething that I've been thinking a lot about the last couple of days is the importance of having a major goal that you are working on for yourself. This can range from having a small personal project you work on around your job or school to trying to conquer a bad habit to something bigger, like pursuing your "dream".<br /><br />This was spurred by a recent episode of a favourite podcast of mine, in which two independent pro wrestlers and a lifelong musician (who also wrestles) were discussing how awkward it can be to broach the topic of their careers to a random acquaintance. Surprisingly, whenever the person gets around to asking "So, are you still doing the wrestling thing?" and they affirm that they are, the response is almost always positive. The three then speculate that it's because the person who is asking has usually given up on the dream that they were pursuing when they were younger. The example that one of them gave was the guy asking being a hockey player with NHL aspirations in high school.<br /><br />This story made me think of a memory from high school. I went to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Michael%27s_College_School" target="_blank">St. Michael's College School</a> in Toronto, which is known for, among other things, having a big and prosperous hockey program. As such, almost everyone at my high school played hockey at a higher-than-normal level and many had aspirations to one day play at a professional level.<br /><br />One day, while I was changing at my locker for cross-country practice I overheard two of my classmates talking about another contemporary of ours and his NHL aspirations and how he wasn't that good. The line I remember is "One day Luke is going to have to come to terms with the fact that it just isn't going to happen." It struck me as so petty and shitty that these two would speak so meanly of the guy behind his back like that. His hockey playing doesn't affect them in any way, so why shit all over it? Also, it was funny to realize that all of the bros who were patronizing and shitty to me were also that way to each other.<br /><br />The most telling thing to me is that I can't remember the names of those two boys for the life of me, whereas Luke Gazdic's name is easy to recall, for an easy reason:<br /><br /><iframe allow="encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" gesture="media" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/WSoPweqS2O8" width="560"></iframe><br /><br />That type of thing has to make you smile.<br /><br />As embarrassing as it can be to hold on to dreams you started in your teens, more embarrassing is forgetting them and having nothing to define yourself later in your life. Really, being embarrassed about your dreams and goals is a result of how personal they are and how dear they are to the part of you that you rarely show to others.<br /><br />I guess this is sort of a call to all my friends to keep working on what fulfills them and drives them. There is nothing embarrassing or shameful about that, despite what <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-d2b-PwtagU" target="_blank">turkeys would have you believe</a>. Making things and making things happen is fucking sick. In the spirit of this, I will share all of my dreams and goals, big and small.<br /><br /><ul><li>Write a novel.</li><li>Land a kickflip.</li><li>Finish two more zines.</li><li>Write and put out an EP of my own music, all on my own.</li><li>Play a show in which I am the singer of a band.</li><li>Teach a university course.</li></ul>Timmy Chandlerhttps://plus.google.com/116964362145332092702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1014632635407793339.post-22742147266674227262018-01-05T12:40:00.001-08:002018-01-05T12:40:12.911-08:00I Don't Mind, I Don't CareAs is tradition, now that the calendar has turned over and my "Best Music" list has been etched into whatever the IMU equivalent of stone is, I have started to immediately discover a couple of releases from last year that I missed out on and really enjoy. I swear that I spend more of the year catching up on what I missed than checking out new releases.<br /><br />First: <i>Precious Art</i>&nbsp;by Rozwell Kid<br /><br />I tried to get into Rozwell Kid's first album <i>The Rozwell Kid LP</i>, but just couldn't do it. The band started to gain a lot more traction and my jaded ass wanted to listen to them less and less because so many people were talking about them. Turns out that good bands get popular because they're good. Who knew?<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe seamless="" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=2651321082/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/transparent=true/" style="border: 0; height: 470px; width: 350px;"><a href="http://rozwellkid.bandcamp.com/album/precious-art">Precious Art by Rozwell Kid</a></iframe></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Second: <i>Dumb Dads</i>&nbsp;by Peace Be Still</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I will never, for the life of me, understand why Peace Be Still is name-checked as an upper-crust Toronto band. They perfectly toe the line of abrasive, earnest emo and poppy punk trip right the fuck over. The intro riff to "Bozo"? BUD. They were amazing live too! It turns out that they broke up this year and I didn't even know, but if that's the case, then <i>Dumb Dads</i>&nbsp;is hell of a high note to go out on. Sincere applause for being a wonderful band.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe seamless="" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=312962990/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/transparent=true/" style="border: 0; height: 470px; width: 350px;"><a href="http://peacebestill.bandcamp.com/album/dumb-dads">Dumb Dads by Peace be still</a></iframe></div>Timmy Chandlerhttps://plus.google.com/116964362145332092702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1014632635407793339.post-20612390472112975532017-12-27T05:11:00.000-08:002017-12-27T05:17:58.737-08:00The I, Musical Genius Guide to Self-Betterment in 2018 and Beyond<div style="text-align: center;">WRITE MORE</div><div style="text-align: center;">DRINK MORE COFFEE</div><div style="text-align: center;">WEAR MORE HAWAIIAN SHIRTS</div><div style="text-align: center;">TWO MORE ZINES</div><div style="text-align: center;">TRY HARD TO BE LESS NEGATIVE</div><div style="text-align: center;">MAKE GOOD FOOD<br />WATCH LESS TV</div><div style="text-align: center;">PLAY GUITAR</div><div style="text-align: center;">NEVER STOP READING</div><div style="text-align: center;">NEVER STOP LOVING</div>Timmy Chandlerhttps://plus.google.com/116964362145332092702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1014632635407793339.post-57586097685395387672017-12-20T17:40:00.001-08:002017-12-20T17:40:09.307-08:00Don't Think I Ever Mean GoodbyeAs I said in my "Best of 2017" post that I put up earlier this week, I've had the idea of a writing a post explaining why I think <i>The Yunahon Mixtape</i>&nbsp;by Oso Oso is so great for a while now. Actually, I've been kicking it around for almost a year, because said album came out on January 13th, 2017.<br /><br />God, what a bad intro. But we're movin' on!<br /><br />I discovered Oso Oso through seeing them open for The Hotelier in 2014. I wasn't familiar with them, but from a friend's description of "emo Third Eye Blind", I was pretty sure I would be into it. They put on an amazing set that night and I was instantly sold. After that I dug deep roots into their first full-length <i><a href="https://osoosoband.bandcamp.com/album/real-stories-of-true-people-who-kind-of-looked-like-monsters" target="_blank">Real Stories of True People Who Kind of Looked Like Monsters</a></i>&nbsp;(I truly hate typing out that title) and Oso Oso quickly established themselves as one of my favourite active bands.<br /><br />They toured through the south of Canada in the fall of 2016 and I somehow found out about their Toronto date a day or two before, as it was at a small DIY venue with no bigger bands. An acoustic act opened, whose friends seemed to make up most of the audience, and a bad, albeit very new, American band was providing support. After that second band, there was a huge exodus of the crowd, as they weren't interested in sticking around for the only act on the bill with any sort of serious recorded output. The crowd for Oso Oso ended up being a couple, the promoter, and me.<br /><br />The band, of course, put on an amazing set featuring an even mix of RSTPWKLLM's biggest jams and a few new songs that I would later come to recognize as being on <i>The Yunahon Mixtape</i>. Playing well as a unit live is so hard and competency is basically only established through touring a lot. One of the best parts of being a music fan is seeing a band when they are at the top of their game live.&nbsp;Even better is when you are watching a band you're all in on kill it and their set is the way you're introduced to a new song.<br /><br />I was eager to hear what Oso Oso would do next and during the set they slipped in "the cool". I was over the moon because the new stuff sounded just as good, if not better than the old stuff, but also a little bummed because I had no idea when the album was coming out and would have to wait to hear it.<br /><br />Then the band released it out of the blue on Saturday morning. Being a Bomb the Music Indsutry! stan, I've come to love surprise releases. I think there's something to be said for foregoing the hype machine and letting the songs speak for themselves. Very quickly I realized that I like the album just as much as the old one and found it growing on me more and more each listen, with it far surpassing their first one after not too long.<br /><br />There are a couple of reasons that I think this album is so special, so I'll try my best to explain them now.<br /><br />The first thing that jumps out at you is the title and its inclusion of the word "mixtape". While the album isn't a mixtape in the hip-hop sense of the word, it is one in the coming-of-age sense of the word. <i>Yunahon</i>&nbsp;is a concept album about a courtship and the life of the ensuing relationship, with each song representing a different stage and major event in the narrative. At the same time, the album is also supposed to be the mixtape that the protagonist gives to his romantic interest. I haven't run into many meta-albums like this in my life, but I love it.<br /><br />The lyrics of each song set a specific scene, which makes the story feel lived-in. Especially songs like "shoes (the sneaker song)" and "the slope"; they put me right in the story and also make me immediately associate them with scenes from my own life.<br /><br />Sidebar: Anything meta is my jam. I soak it up like sponge, baby. I started saying baby a lot. Is it ironic? Do I actually think it's cool? Who knows!<br /><br />Making an album that is at once a story, the guide to that story, and an element of the story is a pretty big jump concept-wise for any band to make. Oso Oso also mirrored that by subtly changing their sound as well. I loved the lead-heavy emo rock riffing that made up <i>True Stories</i>, but I also must concede that the more nuanced approach the band took on <i>Yunahon</i>&nbsp;works a lot better. They manage to walk the tight rope of easing back and simplifying the chord progressions to make them catchier, while also layering in more guitar tracks to fill out the sound and doing more interesting bass and drum work to distinguish each song. If this was easy, every band would do it.<br /><br />I saw a lot of reviews of this album that referred to it as a nostalgic throwback to the indie bands that were critical darlings in the early-to-mid 2000's, but I'm not much of an expert on that music, so any comments I could make would be moot. Still feel like I have to mention that though. I think Death Cab for Cutie was popular then? Fuck if I know, The OC sucked.<br /><br />I generally have an album, podcast, or TV show on at all times while I'm doing things at home, so Rebecca is forced to put up with my tastes. This album got played (is still getting played) ad nauseum as soon as it came out and I kind of forced it upon them. The album quickly became the soundtrack to our home life and before long, every song was about different stages of my relationship with Becks and the feeling of falling in love and finding somebody who completely turns your heart upside down.The capper was seeing them this past fall together, when them ripping into "shoes (the sneaker song)" got me close to tears.<br /><br />It's nice that <i>The Yunahon Mixtape</i>&nbsp;can remind me of nights in Guelph when Rebecca and I had just met and were going to see a friend's band play, but also remind me how in love I am at this moment. It's a big reason why this is one of my favourite records that I've ever heard.<br /><br /><br /><iframe seamless="" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=1709290058/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/transparent=true/" style="border: 0; height: 470px; width: 350px;"><a href="http://osoosoband.bandcamp.com/album/the-yunahon-mixtape">the yunahon mixtape by oso oso</a></iframe>Timmy Chandlerhttps://plus.google.com/116964362145332092702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1014632635407793339.post-28274297031555384542017-12-18T13:33:00.000-08:002017-12-18T13:33:36.011-08:00The 2017 I, Musical Genius Music Revue Show<div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">The yearly tradition continues. The order is un-numbered and doesn't really matter except for my #1 spot, which is obvious. Let's go:</div><br /><a href="https://osoosoband.bandcamp.com/album/the-yunahon-mixtape" target="_blank">Oso Oso - The Yunahon Mixtape</a><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a3031132533_10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="796" data-original-width="800" height="318" src="https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a3031132533_10.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;">A no-doubt slam dunk #1 album of the year. I eagerly waited for Oso Oso's follow-up to <i>Real Stories of True People Who Kind of Looked Like Monsters</i>&nbsp;and they rewarded me with something that was unexpected in the best way possible. I've been planning a separate post that mentions everything I love about this record because putting everything here would be too much, so I'll write that next week sometime. Not only is this my favourite thing that came out this year by a wide margin, but it's up there as one of my favouirte albums I've ever heard.</div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPwPwSQE9bs" target="_blank">Power Trip - Nightmare Logic</a><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a3318108490_10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="800" height="320" src="https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a3318108490_10.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;">When your approach to music is making an even mix of Exodus and the Cro-Mags, you make it really easy for me to like your band. Their best stuff for sure.</div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://danielromanomusic.bandcamp.com/album/modern-pressure" target="_blank">Daniel Romano - Modern Pressure</a><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://youvechangedrecords.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/YC-DR-Modern-Pressure-Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="800" height="320" src="https://youvechangedrecords.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/YC-DR-Modern-Pressure-Cover.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;">As with last year's <i>Mosey</i>, I figured that Daniel Romano had already produced his best solo effort. Yet again I was floored by a distinctive, intelligent, and fully-realized exercise in making a "genre" album. A master-stroke in 60's pop. This was an early favourite this year and I can't wait for his next one.</div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPiBS_xKv1U" target="_blank">Pet Symmetry - Vision</a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a2019701172_10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="800" height="320" src="https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a2019701172_10.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;">A common trend this year was albums surpassing my humble expectations. I deeply loved&nbsp;<i>Pet Hounds</i>, so I tried to be measured in my first listens of this one, but found it to be fresh and different from their first album, but still with plenty of hooks and riffs. Great bass playing on this one too!</div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://closedcasketactivities.bandcamp.com/album/thousand-mile-stare" target="_blank">Incendiary - Thousand Mile Stare</a><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a0549723180_10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="800" height="320" src="https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a0549723180_10.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;">I would love it if more bands would combine beatdown NYHC riffs with socially conscious lyrics. IF YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT THE PRODUCT IS, THE PRODUCT IS YOU.</div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://whitereaper.bandcamp.com/album/the-worlds-best-american-band" target="_blank">White Reaper - Greatest American Band</a><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a1041694622_10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="800" height="320" src="https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a1041694622_10.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Between Sheer Mag's effort this year, Crying's album last year, and this album, I am more than here for the growing influence of arena rock in punk. Great riffs and great vocal melodies on this one.</div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://sheermag.bandcamp.com/album/need-to-feel-your-love" target="_blank">Sheer Mag - Need to Feel Your Love</a><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://static.stereogum.com/uploads/2017/06/Sheer-Mag-Need-To-Feel-Your-Love-1496762135-640x640.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="640" height="320" src="https://static.stereogum.com/uploads/2017/06/Sheer-Mag-Need-To-Feel-Your-Love-1496762135-640x640.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;">If you don't think a lo-fi punk band playing poppy Thin Lizzy songs is right up my alley, then you don't really know me at all.</div><br /><a href="https://alvvays.bandcamp.com/album/antisocialites" target="_blank">Alvvays - Antisocialites</a><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a2895102279_10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="800" height="320" src="https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a2895102279_10.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">A fantastic follow-up to their celebrated self-titled debut. They try out some new styles on this one and I love it. Put out catchy, dreamy pop forever, please.</div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0l9kzS_B7gg" target="_blank">Vince Staples- Big Fish Theory</a><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://consequenceofsound.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/vince-staples-stream-big-fish-theory-album-new-download-listen.jpg?quality=80" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="770" data-original-width="800" height="308" src="https://consequenceofsound.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/vince-staples-stream-big-fish-theory-album-new-download-listen.jpg?quality=80" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">TELL THE GOVERNMENT TO SUCK A DICK BECAUSE WE ON NOW.</div><br />OTHER THINGS:<br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Some movies I enjoyed: The Big Sick, The Disaster Artist,&nbsp;The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected), Get Out, Personal Shopper, The Fate of the Furious, Landline, and Ingrid Goes West.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Some TV I really enjoyed this year: Master of None, Fargo, Twin Peaks, Nirvanna the Band the Show, Love, Easy, Bojack Horseman, Vice Principals, Crashing, Rick and Morty, and Epicly Later'd.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">See you soon folks.</div><br /></div>Timmy Chandlerhttps://plus.google.com/116964362145332092702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1014632635407793339.post-78597199839963572782017-12-08T08:44:00.001-08:002017-12-08T08:44:45.629-08:00Folks, the Happy Ray is back. Sincere thanks to the snacking raccoons for filling in while he was on the DL, but I am so pumped to have this dude back.Timmy Chandlerhttps://plus.google.com/116964362145332092702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1014632635407793339.post-50340290690283652182017-12-07T18:54:00.000-08:002017-12-07T18:54:04.874-08:00I, Musical Genius: On Baseball<a href="https://imusicalgenius.blogspot.ca/2015/01/i-musical-genius.html" target="_blank">Almost three years ago</a>, I had the idea that I was going to make a print version of <i>I, Musical Genius</i>&nbsp;because after having the idea it seemed like it made too much sense to not follow through on it. I absolutely LOVE zines and thought that some of my longer entries on here would make great content to fill the pages with. I picked a few entries that I thought I had done a good job on and narrowed in on the vague theme of betterment through self-reflection that permeates my writing on here and started to comb through them for errors and syntax.<br /><br />I dreamed big on the print version of I, Musical Genius right away. I was going to fill each page of the zine with hand-drawn stuff. I would have one issue on nostalgia, one on sports, one on music stories, etc. If I was finally going to turn this long-term project into a real, tangible thing, then I wanted to put in a lot of effort and make it really good. However, because of those lofty goals, the project really got away from me. I got caught up in small tasks with it and lost interest and never ended up finishing the thing.<br /><br />When I decided that I was going devote my free time to writing last December (lol), I made finishing that zine part of the goal. Even though I hadn't touched it in ages, the idea definitely still thrilled me and I wanted to do it. While I kept working on songs consistently and short stories intermittently, the zine, again, went untouched for the entire year because I felt like the other goals were more important than printing out stuff that I had already written on the internet.<br /><br />BUT, a couple of weeks ago, I was approached by a friend to help organize a punk/baseball trivia night at D-Beatstro in Toronto. While I was house-sitting for my parents, with Roy Halladay's death still fresh in my mind, it struck me that I had a lot of baseball writing sitting on here that I hadn't really done anything with and would make for a great zine. What pushed me over the edge was looking at my dad's drafting board and thinking about cutting the paper up. Finishing the zine in time to "launch" it at the trivia night seemed like too good of an opportunity to pass up.<br /><br />I started planning it right away and made the initial versions of it that afternoon and then kept tweaking and tweaking until it looked the way I wanted.<br /><br />I got a friend of mine, Octavio Contreras to draw the cover for me. He did better than I could have hoped.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ejYGrLaOQfI/Win-EHW07hI/AAAAAAAAARw/C6QWY-afoq8C9IHu1gDSfHu1vIMtAoRvACLcBGAs/s1600/WIN_20171207_215010.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="180" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ejYGrLaOQfI/Win-EHW07hI/AAAAAAAAARw/C6QWY-afoq8C9IHu1gDSfHu1vIMtAoRvACLcBGAs/s320/WIN_20171207_215010.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br />The end result is this: <i>I, Musical Genius: On Baseball</i>, the first thing I've made of my creative writing. While three autobiographical short stories ain't much, I am very proud of what I've made.<br /><br />So I guess the only thing left to do now is distribute this damn thing. If you are reading this and would like a copy of this, I would be more than happy to mail one to you. I guess I'm charging $5 for it, but you are welcome to pay whatever you would like. Get in touch with me on here, or on Twitter, and we can sort it out.<br /><br />Thanks.Timmy Chandlerhttps://plus.google.com/116964362145332092702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1014632635407793339.post-57301277392720314302017-11-23T12:43:00.002-08:002017-12-07T18:29:02.145-08:00The Disaster ArtistSomething that I've been grappling with the entire year is the progression of "<a href="https://imusicalgenius.blogspot.ca/2016/12/theres-only-so-many-days-you-can-spend.html" target="_blank">The Project</a>", which is the name I gave to my goals that I set out for the 12-month period from December 1st, 2016 and December 1st 2017. The goals are as follows:<br /><ul><li>5 original short stories</li><li>5 songs, with lyrics and guitar and bass parts written</li><li>My planned I, Musical Genius zine finished.</li></ul><div>It feels shitty to admit it, but this is not and will not be finished. I realized about halfway through the year that this project was not going to get finished, but I held out hope that I would have a burst of creative energy near the deadline and get everything done. Being at the end of November now, I can say with absolute certainty that this goal is not possible, but that's okay.&nbsp;</div><div><br /></div><div>Let's take stock of what I have accomplished:</div><div><ul><li>5 short stories begun. 1 finished. 1 half-done. 3 planned out, but unwritten.</li><li>5 guitar and bass parts written. Two sets of lyrics finished. Others in various states of disarray.</li><li>I, Musical Genius zine untouched.</li></ul><div>This is not as bad as it looks though. I do wish I had done more work on the short stories, but I also put a lot posts up on here that I'm proud of and certainly drew upon the same thoughts and energy that a short story does. Guess what? Writing fiction is much harder than you think. So much harder.</div></div><div><br /></div><div>I found writing the guitar parts easy, but I fiddle with my acoustic so much. I actually ended up spitting out the initial versions of more than 8 songs. Bass is easy for me because I played bass in bands already. The lyrics have been very slow coming and I find it hard to say what I want to say.</div><div><br /></div><div>In both cases, I know that the way to navigate the issues I'm having is to just write more and work through them that way. I just need to force myself to do that.&nbsp;</div><div><br /></div><div>The zine, I am not so worried about, because I ditched my original idea of assembling my "best" piece of writing on here and instead shifted to the idea of making a zine of my favourite baseball things I'm written. Keep an eye out for that.</div><div><br /></div><div>It was hard to write this year because it felt like every time that I built myself up to do something, work got in the way. I was incredibly busy from the beginning of September to end of October and that was definitely the nail in my writing coffin. I would get home from work really tired and burnt out and it felt like even watching TV took too much energy and free time.</div><div><br /></div><div>At this moment though, I'm back in the University of Guelph's library for the first time in ages, I have a week off of work and have time to actually do things I like. We'll see how much I can finish by next Tuesday and I will do my damnedest to make something that matters.</div>Timmy Chandlerhttps://plus.google.com/116964362145332092702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1014632635407793339.post-83859955497217035432017-11-07T16:56:00.003-08:002017-11-09T08:35:32.283-08:00For RoyThe following night never actually happened, but also happened many times.<br /><br />At 3:30 PM, I finished high school for the day. I left my classroom and walked down to my locker to change for track practice. I went to an all-boys school, so we all just changed in the hallways instead of the changeroom. I was much smaller and skinnier than the other boys my age and felt awkward about how different my body looked. I knew there was a 50% chance that someone would make fun of the way I looked. On this day, luckily, nobody did.<br /><br />After track practice, I returned to my locker and changed back into my uniform to go home. The subway ride from my high school to my parents’ house in Scarborough was a little more than an hour. The ride was always taken by myself because nobody else at my high school lived in Scarborough. I listened to whatever CD I had chosen for the day in my Walkman two or three times, depending on the length of the trip. On this day, the CD was <i>Three Cheers for Disappointment</i> by the Arrogant Sons of Bitches. I was lonely and pensive on the subway.<br /><br />I got home just as my mom and sister were preparing to leave the house. I was tired and felt a little defeated, which was common at the end of every day in high school. My sister was a high-level competitive diver and to maintain her fitness and skill, went to practice on the other side of the city every weeknight. Being an athlete of that caliber requires significant contributions from those around you in addition to your own efforts, so my mom was the one to drive my sister to practice each day. As a result, my dad and I were left together at the house for almost every weeknight during my time in high school.<br /><br />On this night, my dad and I were going to see the Blue Jays play a night game against the New York Yankees. My family had split Season Tickets for the Blue Jays for close to two decades at this point. While in the past the games had been divvied up somewhat evenly between the members of the family (In our youth, my sister and I each got to stay up and go to one night game per season. It was our most coveted and exotic night of the summer.), my dad and I were now left with the lion’s share of the tickets. The Blue Jays were awful at this point, so going to games was not a high-demand night out. What had once seemed like a rare treat was now an almost bi-weekly affair for my dad and me.<br /><br />Though I wouldn’t say that I was bored of going to see baseball, by this point it had become a sort of routine for me. The current team did not seem as exciting as the one I had grown up watching. I used to get a thrill out of Shawn Green walking up to the plate just because it was happening and I was there. Now I kept wondering why the team was always so close to mattering, but still far enough away to remove any doubt of that happening. This was a new experience in sports. It wasn’t the bewilderment and exhilaration that overtook me when I was child. It was anxiety and anger and annoyance, with brief flashes of pure love, that was in many ways a lot like my adolescent life.<br /><br />After a hastily eaten meal, the two of us drove downtown via Kingston Road and the Gardiner. We pulled into an alley near Front and Simcoe and were greeted by the same parking attendant we had seen each time here for more than a decade. He’s an thin elderly man in a worn out 2000’s-era Blue Jays cap. My dad hands him a 10-dollar bill. He knows us and tells us to enjoy the night.<br /><br />On this night, Roy Halladay was pitching for the Blue Jays and that was exciting. Even though he had already won the American League’s Cy Young award and been an all-star multiple times, he felt like he was Toronto’s secret baseball treat. He was so good and somehow didn’t receive much attention in the American sports media. He quietly went about his dominance and Canadians liked that. My dad and I both mentioned multiple times how special we think Roy Halladay is.<br /><br />In the 1st inning, Roy retired the side, striking out two. He only threw nine pitches. My dad ordered a draught of Alexander Keith’s India Pale Ale, as he always did. I did not get to drink beer because I was still underage. In the bottom half of the inning, the Blue Jays loaded the bases with two out. There was a couple behind us talking loudly and one of them asked if it would be “6 points” if the Blue Jays were to hit a home run. My dad and I chuckled to each other.<br /><br />The SkyDome was mostly empty that night and my dad and I estimated how many people are in attendance. Maybe 5 or 6000? I told my dad about an article I read in Sports Illustrated that week. He told me a story about going to see the Yankees in New York in the 70’s. I was captivated.<br /><br />In the 4th inning, Doc Halladay faced his toughest challenge of the night. Having thrown only 45 pitches, he gave up an opposite field single to Derek Jeter. The next batter, an overpaid free agent power hitter, who I resented for being rich and playing for the Yankees, hit the only mistake pitch that Roy threw all night into the right field 100-level seats. The Yankees now led the game 2-0. While the player rounded the bases, my gaze was fixed on Roy Halladay, who gestured to the catcher for a new ball and re-took his place on the mound. Stone-faced, he got the next batter to roll over on a cutter to end the inning. After the first basemen received the throw, my dad did a small fist pump in combination with a nod that he did any time a player does something “right”. Roy Halladay seemed to do things “right” almost always.<br /><br />On that night, the roof of the SkyDome was open, so a cold breeze was coming in off Lake Ontario. Once the sun went down, I started to shiver because I had only worn a t-shirt. My dad gave me his sweater to wear, which I felt awkward putting on because it was much too big for me. Now being warm again, I was free to once again focus on Roy Halladay, who after one hiccup, had continued his dominance for the rest of the game. While the Blue Jays leave much to be desired while they hit, Roy Halladay demands my attention while he is on the mound. He occupied all my focus while he is pitching, and I didn’t pay much attention to how sad I felt earlier in the day.<br /><br />In the top of the 9th inning, Roy came out once more, having thrown 96 pitches for the night. The Yankees hitters are still helplessly swinging at his masterfully placed corner sinkers and they are retired in order. Even though the Yankees were winning this game, I still felt like it was all about Roy Halladay. He had thrown yet another complete game, which was becoming more and more rare as a feat, but seemed like an everyday accomplishment for him. My dad and I both make comments about how “nobody does that anymore” and note that Halladay’s ability to completely take over baseball games is yet another symbol of him being a special player and the best pitcher in the game.<br /><br />In the bottom of the inning, the Blue Jays put two runners on, but ultimately come up with nothing. They lose the game, despite Roy Halladay pitching all nine innings. We are used to defeat, so we weren’t so upset about the outcome. We walked out onto the bridge and down Front Street to where we parked the truck.<br /><br />On the drive home, we listened to <i>JaysTalk</i> on the Fan590 radio station. Many callers phoned in to give their advice about how to improve the team, like trading for Adam Dunn. Nobody mentioned Roy Halladay, because everyone was used to him being the very best.<br /><br />When we got home, I went to bed. I had to wake up at 6:30 AM the next day to get ready for another day of school, but instead of thinking about that, or how I was lonely, or how I felt isolated from my actual friends at school, or how mad I was at myself for being stupid and awkward, I just thought about Roy Halladay.<br /><br />Thanks for everything Doc, you were one in a million,<br /><br />Timmy<br /><br /><i>Author’s note: This was written while wearing a faded, black Roy Halladay t-shirt.</i>Timmy Chandlerhttps://plus.google.com/116964362145332092702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1014632635407793339.post-45746821381579987802017-11-07T05:25:00.001-08:002017-11-07T05:25:33.033-08:00Sorry, That Was Out of the BlueSometimes, I find that a low-effort post is the first step towards more output. Working lots of overtime and being preoccupied with writing PhD grants for next year has neutered my drive to write, so I offer this post as a step towards something with a little more substance.<br /><br />As part of The Project, I've been working on a couple of songs throughout the year, with the hope that they will eventually turn into a demo. This part has actually going reasonably well, as I've found that writing guitar parts takes much less mental labour than writing short stories and lyrics. Here is a collection of songs that I think define the type of sound that I am going for with these songs:<br /><br />Algernon Cadwallader "Spit Fountain"<br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/H105kxgIlj4" width="560"></iframe> <br /><br />Big Star "In the Street"<br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cT8ihOjOf1g" width="560"></iframe> <br /><br />Dead to Me "Ran That Scam"<br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BXoGpl-dPJ4" width="560"></iframe> <br /><br />Van Halen "Dance the Night Away"<br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pQ9pYwCKopE" width="560"></iframe> <br /><br />Oso Oso "Out of the Blue"<br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qrwCpmg2zT8" width="560"></iframe>Timmy Chandlerhttps://plus.google.com/116964362145332092702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1014632635407793339.post-24556916379923770402017-10-12T19:34:00.001-07:002017-10-12T19:34:11.456-07:00My Friends Carry Me HomeIn a recent post, I said "Celebrate the things your friends care about and champion the things they make", so I figured that I should make good on my promise. I have many talented friends who are all pursuing the things they are passionate about and excelling, so I'd like to highlight a few of them below. It's so great to take a moment to think about how many wonderful things you're friends are doing and what they're capable of doing.<br /><div><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>THE OFFICIAL I, MUSICAL GENIUS "BACKED HARD" LIST</i></div><div><br /></div><div>I've never been shy about my disdain for the boom in craft brewing. To me, it reeks of pretension and consumerism and I find that almost everything the industry produces is terrible. Give me a 50 or a Miller Lite instead. That being said, one of my oldest and very best friends Pat brews for a local company in Toronto called <a href="http://www.bloodbrothersbrewing.com/" target="_blank">Blood Brothers</a>. I've been drinking Pat's beers since he started brewing in our shitty rented university house and it's been great watching him get better and better. His mindset in the industry is refreshing and down-to-earth and I like knowing that there some non-jabronis out there. And hey, even a guy who spent 10 years drinking PBR almost exclusively likes their beer to boot. You should visit their home base to try some stuff and listen to classic rock. Pat is very good at brewing beer.</div><div><br /></div><div>While I was in university, another one of my best friends dropped out of his English degree to start cooking at a local Indian restaurant. Matt then enrolled in George Brown's cooking school and has been on a steady trajectory upwards since then. He's already cooked in a variety of Toronto's upper-echelon restaurants, but settled into <a href="http://www.actinoliterestaurant.com/" target="_blank">Actinolite</a> this past year, which he's described to me as his dream job. Just like Pat, I find Matt's approach to cooking very unpretentious and level-headed, which seems rare to me in food. You should eat there if you can.</div><div><br /></div><div>Duff, another one of my best friends, who I played in Beat Noir with for five years, currently plays in two wonderful bands. One is <a href="https://wayfarer.bandcamp.com/" target="_blank">Wayfarer</a>, who are absolutely on the shortlist of "Best Ever Ontario Bands", and the other is <a href="https://schoolshooterhc.bandcamp.com/releases" target="_blank">School Shooter</a>, a super fast/super heavy D-Beat project. Both are absolutely worth your time.</div><div><br /></div><div>I am fortunate that a lot of my friends play in great bands. Nick, yet another of one of my best friends, plays in the band <a href="https://dogcops.bandcamp.com/releases" target="_blank">Dog Cops</a>. I saw some clips of them recording this past weekend, so make sure to give that release a listen when it drops.</div><div><br /></div><div>While I was doing my Master's at Guelph, my <a href="http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Pic" target="_blank">PIC</a>&nbsp;Vanja and I had offices connected to each other and both commuted from Kitchener, which basically meant that we spent most of our time awake together. A quick thing we bonded over was a love of good coffee, though knew way more about it than I from being a barista on the side. After we finished our degrees, Vanja kept pursuing coffee and eventually got into the roasting game, leading to his current gig at <a href="https://propellercoffee.com/public/" target="_blank">Propeller Coffee</a> in Toronto. They make fabulous coffee and I recommend grabbing a bag. My favourite coffee I've had in the last little while!<br /><br />My friend Tyler builds acoustic guitars with robots at <a href="https://www.taylorguitars.com/" target="_blank">Taylor</a>. Consider buying an acoustic from Taylor because Tyler is so so great!<br /><br />Two of my former colleagues at the gallery, Maddie and Katie, have a new show on at <a href="http://ypluscontemporary.com/maddie-alexander/" target="_blank">Y+ Contemporary</a> in Scarborough. Good on them for this show! It even has a partner exhibition in friggin' Iceland! Go see this show to support good artists from Toronto. If you read this before the 14th, you can even go to the opening.<br /><br />One of the best parts of my year for the last two years has been working at the <a href="http://www.torontocomics.com/" target="_blank">Toronto Comic Arts Festival</a> as a Head Volunteer. The team is super dedicated and hard-working and bring in such awesome programming for the weekend that I feel a little embarrassed by what I do in my job. Great stuff. Great welcoming atmosphere. A wide variety of perspectives and backgrounds represented. A vital queer voice in a realm that can be dominated by lame-os with a rolled up Image issue up their ass. The festival is friggin' free every year! Support it!<br /><br /></div><div>My other PIC from my Master's, Coni, is currently doing her <a href="http://arthistory.cornell.edu/constanza-salazar" target="_blank">PhD at Cornell</a> in Post-Human Art History. She's a fucking research machine and clear and concise writer, but don't let her complicated and difficult theories distract you from the fact that she's a hilarious and warm person as well. She mops the floor with me in pretty much every facet of being an academic. I'm happy to see her do well!<br /><br />My friends are sick. Love yours too.</div></div>Timmy Chandlerhttps://plus.google.com/116964362145332092702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1014632635407793339.post-46688635409312836682017-10-05T08:33:00.001-07:002017-10-05T08:33:39.807-07:00Let's Leave and Be Runaways TonightI decided to take a break from social media this week, mostly Twitter, because I felt like I was spending too much time on it and it was adversely affecting my mood (did my last post give you a hint?). A great side effect of this is that small thoughts I would have maybe turned into a tweet are now turning into a slightly bigger IMU post. This makes me think that social media breaks are an extremely good thing that I should do more, because it makes me write more and that's way better than wasting time reading things that I don't even find interesting.<br /><br />I can't believe that humanity spends most of its time doing that now! It's actually really <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9HBzXitoGc" target="_blank">Mest</a> up when you think about it!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/eqagQCeD28Q" width="560"></iframe></div><br />I put on an old favourite, the album <i>Good For Me</i>&nbsp;by The Swellers, and it immediately took me back to the place I was at in my life while I was super into it in 2011. The album came at exactly the right time and hit me in exactly the right spot and I listened to it constantly in the summer of 2011. I even put it on my <a href="http://imusicalgenius.blogspot.ca/2012/01/better-late-than-never.html" target="_blank">End of Year List that year</a>. I had kind written the band off after not enjoying their previous effort, but then they blind-sided me with this mother fucker and I was in love all over again. It somehow walks the tightrope of mixing skate punk, pop-punk, and alt rock and then sticks the landing masterfully. The songs all go to exactly right place songwriting-wise and then all of a sudden you're on the last song before you even realize it. The band should be really proud of creating a super tight and interesting album.<br /><br />Even though music is always the first place I turn, it's important to remember that when you feel crummy, revisiting an old friend like this can be comforting and exactly what you need.Timmy Chandlerhttps://plus.google.com/116964362145332092702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1014632635407793339.post-14117920618386896682017-10-03T14:06:00.002-07:002017-10-03T14:06:53.935-07:00Hard to BelieveI have a day off of work today, which feels great after two long weeks of overtime at the gallery. Days off in the middle of the week always feel so much nicer and more relaxing than a regular weekend. It feels like you're conning the world because almost everyone else is stuck at work and running through their regular routine while you get to stay home and lay on the couch with the dog and watch and bunch of skateboarding videos on your TV.<br /><br />Whenever I have a day off like this, I usually try to make it productive because work has turned free time into a precious commodity in my life and I find that I need to make the most of it or else I feel like shit and the apartment gets really dirty and I feel unfulfilled because I have written anything or played guitar and all of a sudden it's 5 PM and there's been a dull ringing in the back of my head telling me I'm disgusting and lazy.<br /><br />I say this because this feeling is creeping up on me now after I somehow managed to lose my passport in my own apartment and can't do what I planned today, which was go to the office to renew it. It's a small defeat, but definitely the type of situation that eats away at you and turns into "a thing" while you're trying to deal with it. On top of that, any problem is always intensified when Service Canada has to get thrown into the mix, as they are gold medalists in making you wait in line and fill out forms that seem useless.<br /><br />Any time that I have a day off, I usually try to make putting a post up on here a priority as well. I was half-assedly thinking of topics to write about and settled on some sort of comparison between the reggae album <i>Two Sevens Clash</i>&nbsp;by Culture and something else, but didn't write that idea down and ended forgetting it right away. I guess all I can say on it is that I listened to this album while I was doing the dishes.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/NfYbCIt3Sp8" width="560"></iframe></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I certainly do love me some reggae. Right after that Culture album I put on some Steel Pulse, who I think are the apex of the genre. It's funny to me how many white people my age rip on the genre because all that they know of it is Bob Marley's <i>Legend</i>&nbsp;and Sublime's singles. Why judge a whole genre on the watered-down singles you hear on Q107? That's dumb.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">(Marley is good, but to be honest I think that The Wailers' early output and his album deep-cuts lap his singles in quality.)</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Me writing some things on reggae here did drum up thoughts I've been ruminating on for a while. I'm sure that you are familiar with the concept of "<a href="http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Throwback+Thursday" target="_blank">Throwback Thursday</a>", a fun trend on social media. Among my punk friends, it's popular to post pictures of yourself playing in an old band to point out how trends in punk music and fashion have changed in the last decade or so. For most of my friends, this means posting a picture of you playing in an old hardcore band.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I was then thinking that if I were to post a "#TBT" picture, it would probably be me playing in The Pragmatics and how most of my friends would think that my band was lame because they all hate ska. Fuck that. I know that defending my interest in ska is kind of my signature scent, but Jesus, it's only that way because of how much ska gets brought up to me.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I think about the effect that growing up in Toronto's ska scene and then moving into punk from there had on me a lot. I also think about how my experience differs from my friends who grew up in hardcore scenes. As much as hardcore music is really great and the scenes can accomplish great things, there's also so many super shitty parts to it.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The biggest is that almost every hardcore fan I met has an inherent sense of elitism and give off a vibe of "If you don't listen to 'X' band or were at 'X' show" then you suck, whether they mean to do that or not. There's a wild amount of posturing. On the flip side, I always felt welcomed at ska shows and found it to be an extremely inclusive community, not to mention that I saw far more bands featuring women and people of colour at ska shows, as opposed to hardcore shows which are white guy city.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I've grown really tired of elitism recently and really wish it a swift death. If you don't like something, just don't like and don't care about it and leave it. I'm sick of social media being a constant parade of people giving their hot takes and unpopular opinions just for the sake of stirring people' anger. Let's not build up pedestals by shitting on everyone else. Let's ignore the people who are focused what shirt to wear to the show instead of playing it. Celebrate the things your friends care about and champion the things they make.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">With that said, I offer two throwbacks on a Tuesday:</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The first is from a Pragmatics show at Sneaky Dee's. I had a lot of fun playing in this band and thought it was cool, challenging, and fulfilling to play bass in a mostly instrumental ska band. The show this photo was taken at was 19+, but they had to let me in as a 17-year-old because I was in the band. That felt cool.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZzmI5KPz8Ok/WdP41guH8jI/AAAAAAAAARE/a1QvkVsxI-cNvX0lRw3ib10Fcjc4eYQWACLcBGAs/s1600/206365_1005582834021_5305_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="604" data-original-width="453" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZzmI5KPz8Ok/WdP41guH8jI/AAAAAAAAARE/a1QvkVsxI-cNvX0lRw3ib10Fcjc4eYQWACLcBGAs/s320/206365_1005582834021_5305_n.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The second is from when I saw the Suicide Machines play at Pouzza Fest in 2012. That's me in the Hawaiian shirt. When I was younger, a lot of people told me that "Everyone goes through a ska phase in high school." and that my interest in it would fade with age. I grew to love a lot of different music, to be sure, and definitely broadened my horizons, but my undying love for the music that first inspired when I was an impressionable teenager never died. The joke is on everyone else for doubting my convictions and I still love that band to this day.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kCDRPQ73HbQ/WdP5L617RSI/AAAAAAAAARI/NNYP76KIgaAh_SQBmuXWToD7XK1UwoCtwCLcBGAs/s1600/pouzza.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kCDRPQ73HbQ/WdP5L617RSI/AAAAAAAAARI/NNYP76KIgaAh_SQBmuXWToD7XK1UwoCtwCLcBGAs/s320/pouzza.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div>Timmy Chandlerhttps://plus.google.com/116964362145332092702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1014632635407793339.post-8603615170700406592017-10-02T13:09:00.000-07:002017-10-02T13:09:21.842-07:00Leave The Air Stuck with This Waiting to Be BornThis past weekend, my work co-produced a huge conference about the intersection of art and social justice. I worked on the project for more than a year, so it felt really good to see it finally <a href="https://media.giphy.com/media/b6iVj3IM54Abm/200.gif" target="_blank">come to life</a>. It was also affirming (and a little harrowing) to see people from around the world come a give impassioned, left-wing talks about important issues that the world is facing.<br /><br />Something I tried and ultimately failed to do was work some punk into the programming of the conference, which is something I almost always do when starting my planning. The day was divided into four sections; Land, Love, Labour, and Liberty; so when each section started I couldn't help but think about which four songs I would use to frame those four sections if I had my way. I'm sure you get where I'm going by now, so here you go:<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Land</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZQDcev4wNnA" width="560"></iframe></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Love</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Ssd3U_zicAI" width="560"></iframe></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />Labour</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/L8gKnodOFs4" width="560"></iframe> </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />Liberty<br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fbBlnFtb8W4" width="560"></iframe></div>Timmy Chandlerhttps://plus.google.com/116964362145332092702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1014632635407793339.post-91130941367737460962017-09-21T13:01:00.001-07:002017-09-21T13:01:47.222-07:00I Don't Care What You're About<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/nKx3R-G2hig" width="560"></iframe><br /><br />*Tim aggressively air drums and bobs head*<br /><br />*Co-workers all look at him from across the room, confused*<br /><br />"Tim's listening to his worker's rights music again."Timmy Chandlerhttps://plus.google.com/116964362145332092702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1014632635407793339.post-45759866737628101822017-09-20T08:02:00.000-07:002017-09-20T08:02:27.676-07:00Whole Lot of Walking To DoA few important lessons that I learned while watching Ted Leo &amp; the Pharmacists play a set at Lee's Palace last night:<br /><br /><ul><li>As much as people have been preaching that <a href="http://grantland.com/features/the-winners-history-rock-roll-part-1-led-zeppelin/" target="_blank">rock music is dead</a> for the last ten years, Ted Leo, with his new album <i>The Hanged Man</i>, is here to prove that the rumours of its demise have been greatly exaggerated. I firmly believe that any time a critic emerges to once again harp of rock falling out of the record chart, Ted Leo will pop and piss in that person's face. As part of my year-long "5 Songs and 5 Stories" plan, I've been thinking about if me writing guitar-based punks songs is really urgent at all. Ted Leo grabbed me by the shoulders, slapped my face and said "Write some friggin' riffs you jamoke."</li></ul><ul><li>With how many terrible things are happening the world-over and how stupid mainstream media discourse about those things has gotten, I sometimes feel isolated because I think most people I meet don't feel the same way as me. It seems like most people aren't critical of what they read at all and mindless regurgitation of Facebook has now taken the place of being informed. Ted Leo, that beautiful leftist power-pop messenger, reminded me that I'm not alone out here.</li></ul><ul><li>Life can be shitty sometimes. More often than not, it's work that gets me down because I feel like I'm too burnt out to do that the things that I enjoy and find fulfilling. Surprise, surprise, after I spend two weeks seeing bands that I love and doing things that I like, I find it easier to write and I feel more inspired. Enjoying your life isn't about blindly ignoring bad things to keep a positive attitude. It's crucial to remember all the shitty fucking things in the world to get the full picture. But we also have to appreciate the perfect things we get to experience, like Ted Leo playing for an hour and forty five minutes, and revel in them because they make it worth it to bear all the terrible things.</li></ul>Timmy Chandlerhttps://plus.google.com/116964362145332092702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1014632635407793339.post-45103377631004169272017-09-17T19:39:00.001-07:002017-09-17T19:39:43.483-07:00No Doubt About ItIt is no small secret that I deeply love the seminal classic rock band Thin Lizzy. While they, like many of their contemporaries, have had their careers mostly diluted to one or two singles, they also have a run of great albums in the 70's that still hold up today. Recently, my jam has been "For Those Who Love to Live" off of their wonderful album <i>Fighting</i>, for reasons I will explain below.<br /><br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ANIkF5Ar4GE" width="560"></iframe><br /><br /><br />Thin Lizzy wrote this song about George Best, who was a popular Northern Irish soccer player for Manchester United in the 1970's. Best was extremely skilled, but also fit into the playboy athlete archetype who coupled his innate athletic ability with a thirst for partying and womanizing. These types of figures are always charismatic and can so easily capture the hearts of the sports fan who watch them play, because they show you that sports is part of life as whole and doesn't just exist in a self-contained stadium. Thin Lizzy does a great job of conveying that feeling in the song.<br /><br />I've been thinking about this song a lot as an accompaniment to Jose Bautista's swan song as a Toronto Blue Jay. I've loved Jose's time as a Jay, loved his many accomplishments, and loved the style he played the game with, but I think that I'll save a true farewell to him until his goodbye actually happens. Instead, I'll give you this song as a hearty salute to Jose's time with the team and the cult of personality that surrounds him.<br /><br />Jose Bautista is certainly not the man-about-town that George Best was, but I think that his magnetic personality still drew people in in the same way. He was the best power hitter in the game for a few years and the best Right Fielder of this decade. Jose many, many revenge home runs were the type of thing you fantasized about doing while playing Little League. He made other teams stomping mad and then would hit towering home runs to rub it in afterwards. As much attention as he got for "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61spAt92APc" target="_blank">The Batflip</a>", a lot of people didn't realize that he had been doing that for his entire time in Toronto.<br /><br />Quoting myself verbatim, I've said a lot of times that "Nothing lights me up like Jose home runs." I know that it's a corny thing to say, but there is a jump in my chest every time that Jose pulls one down the right field line because it's something I've seen so many times before. It's familiar and it feels like home and it only feels like home for Toronto Blue Jays fans. It's our thing that we get to have. Everybody got a little bit of a glimpse into during the 2015 playoffs, but they'll never know the joy that we all got to have from 2008-2017.<br /><br />So no, "You've got to have a little love for those who love to live" doesn't mean that Jose succeeded on the field in spite of his vices, it means that while he played baseball, he managed the squeeze the most fun and drama and excitement out of the sport that he could.<br /><br />Next weekend will most likely be Jose's last home games as a Blue Jay. I will be there on Sunday and I look forward to getting up on my feet near the end of the game to give him the true hero's farewell that he deserves.Timmy Chandlerhttps://plus.google.com/116964362145332092702noreply@blogger.com0